Story time is one of the most precious times young families have together - but for parents of deaf children, enjoying the magic of storytelling together isn’t always easy.

And with more than three quarters of parents saying reading is the time they treasure most with their children, the value for families is huge.

New research from Huawei found parents of deaf children spend more than twice as much time reading with their kids as parents of hearing children, a staggering 67 minutes a day compared with 27.

Despite this, figures show deaf children fall far behind their hearing peers with most deaf 16-year-olds having an average reading age of nine.

With no written form and no direct English word-for-word translation, sign language can pose a huge challenge to deaf children learning to read – which is why Huawei’s new app – StorySign – is set to be such a game changerfor the more than 103,000 deaf people across Ireland.

Pioneered by Huawei, and featuring the children’s favourite ‘Where’s Spot’ by Eric Hill, StorySign is available for the first time across Ireland – just in time for Christmas.

Launched in partnership with the Irish Deaf Society, the app was developed with a firm grasp on sign syntax to ensure a seamless translation and user experience.

Promising to open up the world of books to deaf children and their families, users simply hold their phone up to the words on the page and avatar Star signs the story as the words are highlighted, helping parents and children to learn together.

Executive director at European Union of the Deaf Mark Wheatley said: “We’re very hopeful that it will make a significant impact in the deaf community, helping more deaf children learn how to read at the same level as hearing children.”

John Sherwin, CEO Irish Deaf Society, added: “The new StorySign app shows the potential of technology to transform communications for families and schools. The Irish Deaf Soicety are excited about how this programme can be developed in the future.”